


Spellbound

by jiemba



Series: Sanvers Week 2017 [4]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/F, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-18 20:31:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11298291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jiemba/pseuds/jiemba
Summary: Slytherin prefect Alex has been selected for the Triwizard Tournament, and finds herself getting close to Maggie as they try to prepare for each challenge.





	Spellbound

**Author's Note:**

> Sanvers week day 4 prompt - Hogwarts AU

As soon as Gertrude swooped through the Great Hall and dropped a howler on her plate, Alex knew immediately who it was from, the dread of its message like a bludger to the gut.   
  
“Alex, you have to open it.”  
  
“Look, it’s already twitching.”  
  
“Open it, hurry  up!”  
  
There was no avoiding it. Almost as red as the envelope itself, Alex felt every eye in the room on her as she tore it open like a wound.   
  
“ALEXANDRA DANVERS! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, LETTING YOUR SISTER DO THIS? SHE IS 14 YEARS OLD. I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU GOT HER INTO THIS BUT YOU’VE PROVEN ONCE AGAIN THAT YOU’RE CLEARLY NOT RESPONSIBLE ENOUGH TO LOOK AFTER. WHAT WOULD YOUR FATHER SAY IF HE WERE HERE RIGHT N-”  
  
That’s when Alex stopped listening. Shoving books into her bag, she glared across the room to where Kara was sitting at the Griffindor table, mouth hanging open. “Thanks,” she snarled. “Of course I’m getting blamed for this.”

“Alex, I didn’t do it! I swear!”  
  
“Save it, Kara,” she muttered, storming out of the room, her mother still screaming.   
  
In the end, it was Maggie who followed. “Danvers! Hey Danvers, wait up.”  
  
Alex let herself slow, trying to blink away the tears in her eyes. “This is so typical,” she scoffed. “Of course it’s not enough that I’m in the stupid Triwizard Tournament, my sister just had to go and get herself thrown into it too.”  
  
“Come on, Kara couldn’t have gotten her name in the cup by herself.”  
  
“I know. But everyone thinks I’m the one who helped her.”  
  
“Hey,” Maggie murmured, stepping a little closer. “I believe you. The magic needed to outsmart the cup is way beyond the levels of a sixth year. No offense.”  
  
Alex smirked. “None taken.”  
  
“Besides,” Maggie continued, her voice low. “I think looking after her in the competition’s the least of your problems, Danvers. She’s just a kid – a smart one, but… Whoever did this probably wants to see her hurt.”  
  
Alex sighed, knowing Maggie was too smart to be lied to. “The school’s worried about that too,” she confessed. “They’ve got the Ministry working to try and find out what happened.”

“Well I’ll do my best to help. You just focus on the challenges, get the two of you through them safely. I’ll be in the background seeing what I can scope out. Same with James and Winn. We’ll keep her safe together, Alex. I promise.”  
  
When Alex looked at Maggie, she felt her whole chest open up, a weight off her shoulders. “Thank you.”  
  
A clattering of boots on stone sounded down the hallway, a group of Slytherins passing in a way that made sure their presence was known. “A prefect should be more careful who they associate with, Danvers,” a fourth year spat in her direction, all his friends laughing.   
  
“Who I associate with is none of your -”  
  
“Alex, forget it. They’re not worth it,” Maggie told her, her hand gently hooking around Alex’s elbow as she watched them go.   
  
“I’m sorry. That wasn’t OK.”  
  
“Why are you in that house anyway? You could probably suit Ravenclaw.”  
  
“Slytherins aren’t all bad,” Alex sighed. “The house stands for ambition and resourcefulness and -”  
  
“Yeah yeah, I know. All things that’ll help you survive the Triwizard Tournament, right?” As she spoke, she gave Alex a reassuring smile, tugging her Hufflepuff scarf tighter around herself. The winter had come early this year, frost already covering the common room windows in the mornings.  
  
“Yeah,” Alex chuckled wryly. “But first I have to survive my mom.”

 

* * *

 

It truly was a team effort – James sneaking around the grounds with his camera, stealing photos of whatever he could; Winn designing flame resistant under-clothes as soon as they deduced that there were dragons in the first challenge; Maggie helping the girls learn all her best defence charms. Together, they stayed up late in the Slytherin Prefect’s Lounge whenever Alex could sneak them in, drawing out plans, anticipating every snare.   
  
But when they aced the first challenge, when Rita Skeeter wrote a dozen articles portraying Kara as an innocent prodigy and Alex as her bitter sibling, Kara’s owl dropped her pies from home, cards that read _You’re being so brave, sweetie_ and _Keep trying your hardest, I’m so proud of you_.   
  
Gertrude only ever brought Alex howlers.  
  
She never cried in the Great Hall. Never in the common room, in front of the other Slytherins. But somehow, Maggie always found her – in the library, in the bathroom, on the bridge – and sat with her until it passed.   
  
Now, it seemed, it was Alex’s turn.   
  
Shaking the frost from her feet, Alex bounded up the stairs to the library, bag full of chocolate frogs and every flavour beans and bottled butterbeer for her sister.  
  
“Hey Kara, I got you – oh hi, Maggie.”  
  
“Hey,” Maggie replied, barely looking up from her textbook.  
  
“We’ve been researching mer-people, for the next challenge,” Kara explained.   
  
“Max Lord’s still telling everyone it’s banshees, but he doesn’t know you cracked the egg message underwater.”  
  
“Max Lord’s an idiot,” Maggie muttered, scribbling away on her parchment. “The clue would never be that obvious.”  
  
Sensing her tone, Alex sat carefully at their desk. “I didn’t see you in Hogsmead today.”  
  
“I had a lot to do.”  
  
“Oh. Well thanks for helping Kara. I really appreciate it.”  
  
“Anything to help a Danvers.”  
  
Kara smiled, trying to lighten the mood. “Do you want some snacks? Alex always gets tonnes.”  
  
“Yeah, because you eat like a troll.”  
  
A slight chuckle escaped Maggie, but she still shook her head. “I’m OK, really.”  
  
“Come on,” Alex insisted, placing the bag discreetly on the table so they didn’t lose house points from the librarian. “It’ll help us study.”  
  
When Maggie relented after a moment, smiling softly, Alex saw that her eyes were a little red around the edges, watching her cautiously pop a bean into her mouth, exhaling in relief. “Tiramisu. Thank God.”  
  
Later, when Alex walked Kara back to her common room, her sister nudged her. “She couldn’t get a permission form from her parents,” Kara confessed, her voice low so the paintings wouldn’t hear. “I think… Alex, I think they don’t like her.”

 

* * *

 

The night before the second tournament challenge, Alex knew there was no hope of sleep. She’d prepared Kara as much as she could, snuck her some gillyweed from the herbology storeroom, and there was nothing left to do but count down the seconds until the whole damn tournament was over.   
  
No more howlers. No more expectations. No more fame and glory she never wanted.   
  
But she didn’t expect to find Maggie in the Great Hall, lying on a table, staring at the sky above.   
  
“Hey,” she called out to her, stomach clenching at the way Maggie flinched and scrambled up, breathing a sigh of relief seeing that it was only her. “You OK?”  
  
“Fine,” she said shortly. “Shouldn’t you be studying for a challenge or something?”  
  
Alex exhaled, glanced up at the roof. “The stars help me think. Reminds me of home.” Setting her books down on the seat, she climbed onto the table with Maggie, laying down and waiting for the girl to join her, when she was ready.   
  
Finally, Maggie swallowed, settled. “I’m guessing you heard.”  
  
“Heard what?”  
  
“Come on, Danvers. Your Slytherin buddies weren’t gossiping about it in the common room?”  
  
Alex pushed herself up on an elbow. “What happened?”  
  
For a moment, the only sound in the room was Maggie exhaling. “I asked Fleur Delacour to the Yule Ball.”  
  
“Oh,” Alex stammered, her face starting to blush. “I – I didn’t know you…”  
  
“Yeah. It didn’t go well.”  
  
“Maggie…I’m so sorry.”  
  
“I don’t know what I expected. I figured half the kids here already hated me. My parents could come to terms with me being a witch but decided they didn’t want me back home after they found out about the last girl I liked, so what was there to lose?”   
  
“God, I had no idea…”  
  
“It’s whatever. Professor M’orzz helped me get a scholarship so I can stay, so…” She sighed, blinked tears from her eyes. “I guess being a non-white mudblood wasn’t hard enough, huh?”  
  
Alex tried to keep herself from squirming. “You shouldn’t call yourself that.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“It’s… It’s a horrible word.”  
  
“Only because someone made it a horrible word. That’s why I call myself a mudblood, call myself queer. If I take the words back, they’re mine. I decide what they mean. I can be those things and still be proud. You know?”  
  
Alex didn’t quite understand, but she nodded slowly, trying to support her friend. “I guess. I’d never really thought about it like that.” She sighed, settling back down with Maggie. “I’m proud of you - for coming out at school, after everything. That was really brave.”  
  
Maggie laughed dryly. “A Triwizard champion calling me brave. You getting soft on me?”  
  
“No,” Alex laughed. For a moment they lay together in silence, watching a star shoot across the sky. “Though I have to say, you have good taste. Half the school’s chasing Fleur. She’s really pretty.”  
  
Maggie tilted her head, squinted a little at Alex.   
  
“What?”  
  
“Nothing, I just…think I read you wrong.”  
  
Alex blinked. “What do you mean?”  
  
“I didn’t know you were into girls.”  
  
“I’m not,” Alex said quickly, heat rising in her face. “I mean no offense, Maggie -”  
  
“No, I’m sorry - that was way too forward of me. Forget it,” Maggie replied, shrugging it off. “Look, we shouldn’t even be talking about me anyway, you have a big day tomorrow. You’re gonna ace it. You both will.”  
  
Alex’s heart swelled with the confidence Maggie had in her – that she lacked in herself. “You’ll be watching, right?”  
  
When she smiled, it was like the stars in the ceiling shone a little brighter. “Cross my heart.”  
  
“Miss Sawyer?” They both sat up quickly, each wrenched from their gaze on the other, seeing Professor M’orzz walking briskly towards them. “Could we speak in my office, please?”  
  
“Yes, professor,” Maggie answered, quickly turning back to Alex as she scrambled off the table and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’ll see you after the challenge, OK? You’re gonna do great.”  
  
Professor M’orzz smiled warmly at her as Maggie collected her things. “Yes, good luck tomorrow, Miss Danvers. You should get some rest. Even prefects shouldn’t be up this late.”  
  
“Thank you, Professor. I’ll go up soon.” But when they left, all Alex could do was lift her eyes to the stars, trying to convince herself that the tournament was the reason her heart was pounding.

 

* * *

  
When they first stood on the platform in the middle of the lake, Professor J’onzz had told the champions that something had been taken from them – a treasure. Their task was simply to bring it back.   
  
It sounded simple. But nothing in the tournament ever was.   
  
Alex was barely listening, trying almost telepathically to reassure her little sister, the skin of the girl’s neck already starting to raise from the gillyweed, and when Alex first dove into the water, the first thing she felt, away from the screaming crowds, was relief.   
  
She’d never expected, down in the deep, to see Maggie among the reeds, bound and limp, hair splayed around her head. Next to her were James and two other kids she didn’t recognize. She felt Maggie’s name escape her chest in a desperate rush, her hands cupping the girl’s face. She was warm. But she wasn’t waking up.  
  
Alex spun around. Again. Again. Kara. She needed to find Kara.   
  
She inflated her bubble-head charm a little further, scanning the water. Finally her sister arrived, swimming over to help untie James, and Alex felt like she’d released her first real breath since the start of the challenge. “ _Go_ ,” she tried to scream to her sister, giving James a mighty shove upward to help them get started before swimming back to Maggie.   
  
Next to her, Krum was already untying another girl. But they were running out of time, and Fleur was nowhere, nowhere, nowhere – the remaining chained young girl bobbing, lifeless, in the dark.   
  
Alex couldn’t leave her down there.   
  
Only minutes to go, she scrambled to untie both girls and drag them to the surface, blasting mer-people as she went, her chest crying out for air, her lungs shredding. She pushed the girls upward, saw them wake and swim as soon as they found air, and fought the mer-people as hard as she could, charming herself to the surface.  
  
“Alex!” someone screamed as her body slammed into the deck, and Kara crashed straight into her. She choked on air, grasping her sister tight. “I’m sorry,” the girl cried. “I tried to go back in the help you but they wouldn’t let me.”  
  
“You did the right thing,” Alex choked, blinking, steadying herself against the floor. “Maggie…”  
  
“Right here, Danvers.” She felt a hand on her back, and closed her eyes a moment. She was breathing. They were all breathing.   
  
Somewhere off, a girl was speaking frantic French. Closer. Then there were two hands grasping her face, Fleur weeping before her eyes. “You saved my sister, even though she wasn’t yours to save. Thank you, thank you,” she told Alex desperately, punctuating her words with kisses on each cheek. “And you! You helped!” she exclaimed, doing the same to Maggie.  
  
Both girls glanced at each other in the wake of that tornado, cheeks pink, and burst out laughing. “Don’t say I never do anything for you,” Alex joked.   
  
But Maggie shook her head, knowing all along that Fleur was never the girl she wanted to kiss. Not really. She crawled over to where Alex was still sitting on the floor, wrapped her arms around her tight. “Thank you for not letting me go,” she murmured against her shoulder.  
  
Alex smiled into her skin. “Never,” she replied, letting herself breathe – beside her, her sister, and in her arms, her treasure.

 

* * *

  
Since that day, Alex hadn’t been able to sleep through the night. At first she tried to convince herself that it was the tournament, but the truth edged in on her slowly, like ice over the lake, and when she was walking around the grounds with Maggie as she laughed about something or other, crumbs of snow in her hair, she simply couldn’t wait anymore.   
  
“Do you want to go to the Yule Ball with me?”  
  
Stopping in her tracks, Maggie’s eyes were wide. “What?”  
  
“Go to the ball with me?” she tried again, her voice and stance unsteady. “Please?”  
  
But Maggie’s eyes filled with tears, her head shook without permission, her lip trembled. “Is this some kind of joke?”  
  
“What? No!”  
  
“You heard your Slytherin buddies laughing behind my back and thought it’d be funny to stick me up on the night, is that it? Or you feel sorry for me? After Fleur?”  
  
“No, that’s not -”  
  
“God, Alex, enough. I confided in you, I thought… Everyone knows you’ll take Max Lord or someone like that. Someone from a good wizarding family, someone who -”  
  
“Maggie, none of that matters to me.”  
  
“Well, it matters to your mom. And that matters to you. Face it, Alex, you were never gonna go with me,” Maggie spat, the pain in her voice raw now. “Besides, you’re not even into girls. And even if you were, why would you choose me, when you’re perfect Alex Danvers, Triwizard champion, Slytherin prefect? You could have _anyone_ , and I’m just -”  
  
“Maggie, stop,” Alex pleaded, trying to reach for her, to stop her from turning away. “Even if I could have anyone, I’d still want to go with you.”  
  
But Maggie’s face crumpled with her voice, the words “I don’t believe you” coming out in a strangled whimper, before she turned on her heels and ran.

 

* * *

 

The owlery was where she found her. Avoided by most students, the farm-like smell always reminded Maggie of home – if she could even call it home anymore. And owls, it seemed, were way less judgmental than people.  
  
When Alex called her name, she didn’t turn her face, didn’t even glance up. “Just leave me, Danvers.”  
  
“You’re my friend,” Alex insisted. “I want know if you’re OK.”  
  
Maggie turned, eyes red, hard around the edges. “You wanna know?”  
  
Alex shrugged in exasperation. “Yeah.”  
  
“Well I’m not OK, Alex. I’m not OK because I’ve liked you since we had Defence Against the Dark Arts together in fourth year, and this whole time I thought you could never like me back. But now you’re saying you do, and it’s too good to be true, and your mom will never let this happen -”  
  
“I don’t care what my mom says,” Alex insisted, taking her hand and drawing her out to the balcony, where it was quieter. “She’s already mad even when I’m perfect. So I may as well be who I am. Kiss the girl I want to kiss.”  
  
“Alex, you don’t get it,” Maggie wept. “My parents completely disowned me. If that happened to you, because of me, I don’t know what I’d do, I’d -”  
  
“Maggie, shhh….” she soothed her, taking her face in her hands, snow falling around them. “It’s gonna be OK. She’ll be mad, but she needs me to help with Kara too much to get rid of me. I’m over it. I’ve spend my whole life trying to be everything she wants, spent this whole year risking my life in a competition I don’t want to be a part of. I just want you, Maggie,” she said desperately, tears freely tumbling down her own cheeks now. “God, Maggie, I just want you.”  
  
It was Maggie who let the space between them shrink down to zero, brushing her lips against Alex’s in a kiss she’d never thought she’d have. Alex gasped against her mouth, and she was all warmth, all light, as they brushed the tears from each other’s cheeks.   
  
Alex pulled back a little, eyes still closed for a moment. “So you’re saying you want to go with me,” she said, making Maggie laugh. “Coz that’s what I got.”  
  
She sighed. “We still need to talk about if you’re really ready for your mom to know,” Maggie admitted, but then she smiled, eyes bright. “But of course I want to, Danvers.”  
  
A laugh broke out of Alex’s chest, and she shook her head a little, eyes shining. “Enough about my mom for now. Just let me kiss the girl I want to kiss.” She pressed her lips to Maggie’s cheek, her forehead, her nose, and when they kissed again, they knew no matter what happened next, they would always have a home in the castle. A home in each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to find me on tumblr #jiemba


End file.
